Fueled by continued strong loan growth, WTB Financial Corp., the Spokane-based parent of Washington Trust Bank, says its second quarter net income rose by just more than $1 million from the end of the 2016 second quarter.

Larry Sorenson, Washington Trust’s chief financial officer, says loans—and higher net interest margins—have helped fuel the bank’s net income growth. Since the end of 2015, the Federal Reserve has raised rates four times.

“Those factors were clearly the drivers of a strong second quarter,” Sorenson says.

At the end of the second quarter, loans were up $273 million year over year, or about 7 percent since the end of the 2016 second quarter.

WTB Financial says it had $4 billion in loans at the end of the latest quarter, up from about $3.7 billion a year earlier. Net income, meanwhile, increased to $14.7 million, up $1.7 million over the prior quarter.

Last year, the company reported overall net income of $52 million, up from $46.8 million in 2015. Its total assets on June 30 stood at $5.6 billion, up from $5.2 billion a year earlier.

Washington Trust has led banks in deposits in Spokane County for the past six years, according to statistics that the FDIC releases each fall.

Also, last month, Hart Capital Management Inc., of Spokane, reported the composite value of Washington Trust Bank rose by $27 million in the second quarter over the first quarter.

Hart Capital tracks the performance of publicly traded companies in the region with its composite and its Inland Northwest Index, which evaluates companies in a methodology similar to the S&P 500.

In a July letter to shareholders, WTB Financial CEO Peter Stanton, wrote, “I wouldn’t go so far as to characterize the economy as a strong tail-wind, but economic activity in the Pacific Northwest is very good, especially in the Puget Sound area, and we have benefited from that strength.”

Added Stanton, “When credit performance is solid and margins are widening, favorable financial results typically follow, as they have for the company this past quarter.”